Hidden secrets revealed in microscopic images of ancient artifacts

livescience.com ^ | 16 January 2021 | By Mindy Weisberger

[BenLurkin]

For example, a 17th-century Persian textile contains fibers of silk thread that were individually wrapped with thin strips of metal. And the microstructure of a needle from Cyprus retains the touch of the person who shaped it, in traces of dark corrosion that emerged as the needle was rotated and hammered.

In another striking image, a bit of basalt glitters in a ceramic roof tile from Gordion, a site in Turkey that was inhabited from at least 2300 B.C., during the early Bronze Age (the tile dates to the first half of the sixth century B.C.). Basalt, a volcanic rock, looks dull and black to the naked eye. But when viewed in polarized light under a microscope, it shimmers with vivid colors.

Inclusions such as basalt in a roof tile can tell archaeologists if the tile was made locally or imported, and this information can help them piece together historic trade routes and exchange networks, said Marie-Claude Boileau, co-curator of the exhibit and director of the Penn Museum's Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAMM).

Discoveries of ancient mummies, long-lost cities, tools, jewelry and other items help experts piece together humanity's past, and imaging technologies allow scientists to conduct noninvasive investigations that don't damage delicate materials. With microscopy, X-rays, magnetic radiometry, and infrared and ultraviolet light, scientists can access concealed evidence about ancient societies.

[BenLurkin]

ping

[blam]

Your link didn't work for me. Try this.

[Beowulf9]

It’s such a crime and a shame when these archaeological artifacts are stolen. Thousands of years they sit unknown and when the world can finally learn from them they are stolen and sold on the black market to profit one life, which is short as compared to the years these artifacts lay waiting for discovery.

[Paladin2]

Google are happy to make History disappear.

All hail Dr. Jill Biden....

[ridesthemiles]

IS Biden one of those long lost mummies???

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin. Thanks for the additional source link blam

[Theophilous Meatyard III]

I’ve been fascinated with ancient Rome since before high school because it was an ancient society, culture, civilization but close enough in history that much of it can be read, art looked at, ruins walked through, and all that. So after a couple of years in college (in Albuquerque, of all places), I joined the Navy, and they sent me to Naples, Italy, with ancient Roman ruins in every direction.